


figuring it out

by cryingwillow



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Endgame Fix-It, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Sam Wilson is a Gift, Time Travel, basically au where steve gets his dance but doesnt leave his two best friends :(, look there are a lot of pros to steves ending and i accept them but..
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 18:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20030290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryingwillow/pseuds/cryingwillow
Summary: the endgame ends, and steve's story with it. (not really, though.)





	figuring it out

The forest around him shuddered and finally stilled as he teetered dangerously on the platform for a moment before looking up at the group waiting for him. He registered the fading panic, the wild relief on Bruce and Sam’s faces with a jolt. His eyes searched frantically for Bucky in the second before he spotted him, staring up at Steve with simple incredulity. A wild, familiar fear was creeping up his spine.

“Did I overshoot it? Am I—”

Bruce blinked, face stretching in a wide grin. “Only by a minute or so, Cap. We—you’re back.”

“Did something go wrong?” Sam seemed to take a deep breath, eyes sweeping over Steve. “Or did something go right?”

Steve felt a fond smile spreading across his face. “Sorry for giving you a scare. Lost the suit.”

Sam raised his eyebrows, looking over Steve’s old jacket and trousers. “Yeah, I see that. Should I ask?”

When Sam’s question was met with silence, Bruce clapped his hands. “Well, Steve, go get some rest, okay? I’ll clean up here and catch up with you later. Everything work out alright?”

“Thanks, Bruce,” Steve said, stepping down from the platform, only to reach up and shake the larger man’s hand. He hoped the handshake was enough to convey the sudden rush of emotion he felt for Bruce, at the end of it all. “It did. Thank you.”

“Hey, it’s—” Bruce smiled genuinely. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Come on,” Sam said, gesturing to Steve and Bucky. “Finally time to go home.”

The three of them began to walk back, continuing down one of the paths cutting through the forest. The trees towered above, not high or full enough to block out the sun’s light where it dappled the ground before them.

“So,” Steve said, “home, huh?”

Sam laughed. “Where else? It’s over, man. You got any better ideas?”

“Maybe not.” God, he had missed Sam. The thought swept over him all in a rush, leaving his heart strangely full. “So where’s that taking you?”

“D.C.?” Sam shrugged. “Well. There’s a lot that’s changed, I think. But I’ll go see my family for a bit. Then, well—we’ll see. Wouldn’t mind getting back to work. Not that I wanna think about it now, you know?”

“Well.” Steve felt a sureness in the decision he had made, in another world, in another time. “I don’t know about getting back to work, Sam.”

The man looked at him with something almost resembling pride. “You gonna take some time off?”

Steve smiled softly, and it reached his eyes. “You know what? Yeah. I think so. Maybe I’ll try getting some of that life Tony was telling me to get.”

“When you told me that earlier, I thought you weren’t gonna come back,” Bucky said, finally speaking, still too quiet.

“I know. I’m sorry. But—” He felt a gust of wind brush past him, felt it stir his hair and settle comfortably in his lungs. The world thrummed with unbidden feeling around him, so damaged, and yet so gloriously whole. Steve drank in Bucky’s small smile, the way his eyes scrunched up, watching him despite the blazing sun above, and he felt Sam’s steady warmth on his other side, and he knew. “After I put back the stones, I finally got to—it’s done, Buck. I moved on.”

They were silent for a few, soft moments. Steve watched a bird flitting through the trees above, returning to its nest. He remembered what it felt like to spend time sitting outside, sometimes with Bucky, sometimes alone, sketching the movements he would catch through the sky above, and felt a familiar pang of nostalgia. This time, however, it was comfortable, bittersweet; nothing like the pain of longing for moments lost to the past. They didn’t have to be lost to the past.

“Anyway,” Steve laughed after a long pause, “end of the line mean nothing to you?” He drank in the warmth glowing in Bucky’s eyes in reply, and knew. They were far from it.

“So,” Sam said, grinning, “what's Captain America planning to do, now he’s finally out?”

Steve glanced at Bucky’s knowing smile before stopping and turning to face Sam. “I don’t think the world’s done with Captain America just yet.”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment before realization flooded his features. “Oh, man. I don’t know, Steve.”

“Trust me,” Steve said, thinking of a shield back at the compound with another name on it. From the raw emotion in Sam’s eyes, it was clear he was thinking the same. “It’s yours now.”

“I don’t know,” Sam repeated, looking over at both Steve and Bucky with questioning eyes. “You don’t—”

Steve shook his head. “It’s yours.”  
  
The three of them continued to move again, Sam’s voice still choked with feeling: “But what are you planning to do?”

“I don’t know.” Steve smiled. “Whatever I want. Maybe I’ll draw something.”  
  
“That’s an idea,” Bucky said, laughing softy. “It’s a good one. Your stuff’ll hang in museums, now.”

Steve shrugged. “I don’t really need it to.” He met Bucky’s eyes, met the easy understanding he had come to expect since childhood.  
  
“That’s good, man.” Sam threw an arm around his shoulders. “I’m proud of you.”  
  
“I owe it to you,” Steve said honestly.  
  
And, as always, Sam understood. “You figuring out what makes you happy?”  
  
“Yeah.” The world kept spinning in perfect harmony beneath their feet, Sam and Bucky glowing beside him in the easy afternoon light. “I think I’ve figured it out.”  
  
They kept walking until they reached the compound again, steps slow and gentle. As the building came into view, Sam laughed, sudden and bright.  
  
“Earlier, when you were talking about after you put back the stones. You said you ‘finally got to’. You finally got to what?”  
  
Bucky chuckled, the freeness of it catching at Steve’s heart. “You wanna tell us about her?”  
  
“No,” he murmured, still smiling, thinking of the life he would finally build, all for himself. The moments that would be his, and his alone. “I don’t think I will.”

  
_(The scene fades to black as we hear the sounds of a familiar, crackling refrain fill the air.)_

  
_(The scene—_you know this one, don’t you?_)_

  
(imagine.)

  
_kiss me once,_   
_then kiss me twice,_   
_then kiss me once again,_   
_it’s been a long, long time_

_haven’t felt like this, my dear_   
_since can’t remember when_   
_it’s been a long, long time_

_god only knows how many dreams i’ve dreamed about you_   
_or just how empty they all seemed without you_

_so kiss me once,_   
_then kiss me twice,_   
_then kiss me once again,_   
_it’s—_

  
_(The scene fades to black. We open to the previous scene, as the camera pans out over STEVE, BUCKY, and SAM, where they continue to walk towards the compound, easy in their companionship and comfortable in the silence that has settled over them.)_

  
(imagine.)

  
_—been a long, long time._

**Author's Note:**

> hhhh i love steve and peggy to bits but the idea that steve would willingly leave sam (who he has ZERO chance of seeing again in the past) for 70 years....and i know its not the point bc steve did it for Himself but thinking abt how this bucky must be feeling.....man. and this with the russos' comments. which are pretty uhhh wow
> 
> but i'm not trying to be bitter their ending DOES have pros, this is just the ending i wouldve preferred. thanks for reading, and id love to hear your feedback n opinions on this!!
> 
> (also i know i murdered formatting im sorry its all about. the creative license)
> 
> you can find me on twitter at @xiulophone :))


End file.
